(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Democrat AG challenger Alke calls on Knudsen to disgorge funds, cooperate with COPP • Daily Montanan [1] ['Darrell Ehrlick', 'Nicole Girten', 'Blair Miller', 'Matt Vasilogambros', 'More From Author', '- May', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline'] Date: 2024-05-20 Ben Alke, the Bozeman-based attorney and Democrat who will likely face incumbent Republican Attorney General Austin Knudsen in the general election, is calling for Montana’s top law enforcement officer to return campaign donations he’s raised above the minimum in the primary because of Knudsen’s comments at a recent fundraising event in Dillon. During a May 11 event meant to support conservative candidates, Knudsen told the crowd that he had recruited fellow Republican and Daniels County Attorney Logan Olson to run against him, but that Olson wasn’t campaigning or fundraising, rather just playing the role of primary challenger so that Knudsen could raise more funds. During the same meeting, Knudsen called Montana’s political fundraising laws “ridiculous.” The Montana Commissioner of Political Practices has accepted complaints from Montana Democratic Party Executive Director Sheila Hogan, who filed two separate but related complaints against Knudsen and Olson. In addition to Alke calling for the return of excessive campaign donations, he also called for Knudsen to work quickly and cooperatively with the Commissioner of Political Practices Chris Gallus. “That’s necessary to maintain trust in the chief law enforcement officer in the state,” Alke said. Montana law limits the amount candidates can raise during the primary and general election period, with part of the law based upon if the candidate faces a challenger during the primary. The complaints outline several ways in which Knudsen’s comments could be problematic, including raising too much money, recruiting a candidate to run falsely, and using the same campaign management team. Olson has yet to raise any money or hold any campaign events, according to filings with the state website. Knudsen’s team was provided with the opportunity to respond to questions by the Daily Montanan, but it had not received a response to that request by publication on Monday. During a call with reporters on Monday, Alke also raised an issue with some of the other donations that Knudsen received that had been recorded by the state. Alke, unopposed in the primary, alleged that Knudsen’s campaign has received donations from gaming and gambling businesses, which the Montana Department of Justice oversees. “The public has a reason to be concerned,” Alke said. “It’s not ridiculous for the people of Montana to expect the attorney general to follow the campaign finance laws.” Campaign finance reports for Knudsen show several donations between March 16 and April 15, 2024, including donations from a political action committee of the Montana Independent Bankers, the McCone County Republicans and the Montana Tavern Association Hospitality PAC, all of which donated to Knudsen’s primary campaign. Between April 16 and May 14, Knudsen also received $790 in primary funds from the Montana Chamber of Commerce’s Montana Business PAC. In his most recent campaign filing, which ended Monday, Knudsen showed spending just a little more than $200,000 so far with $542 left during the primary race. He’s built up a $91,272 campaign war chest for the general election. Meanwhile, Alke’s most current campaign finance filing, which was dated May 1 and tracked expenses and contributions through April 15, showed he had $73,942 in cash on hand, with $90 raised for the general election. Jake Eaton, the campaign manager for Knudsen, did not respond to questions posed by The Associated Press regarding the recording, but instead said that Alke himself had raised more than was legal, a claim that was not substantiated. Moreover, the Knudsen campaign pointed The Associated Press to a complaint filed by the Montana Republican Party and accepted by the Commissioner of Political Practice calling into question Alke’s campaign expenditures. That complaint is still pending at the COPP. However, in a call on Monday, Alke described the complaint as a timing issue between when campaign finance reports were due and when the billing and statements were processed by his campaign. The Daily Montanan reviewed the complaint by Danielle Tribble, the executive director of the Montana Republican Party, and confirmed that three event expenses on Sept. 27 and 28 were not included in a filing period that ended on Sept. 30, but were included on an amended report because the invoices were not received by the Alke campaign until after Sept. 30. One other complaint by the Montana Republicans alleges that Alke used a video production company during the same time period that didn’t get reported until the next filing period because it wasn’t invoiced until Oct. 2, 2023, according to response paperwork filed with the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices. Gallus has not made a final ruling on the allegations of the Montana Republicans yet. “There’s no substance to the allegations,” Alke said. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2024/05/20/democrat-ag-challenger-alke-calls-on-knudsen-to-disgorge-funds-cooperate-with-copp/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/